Page 5 of Home Grown Talent

Lewis rolled his eyes. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“What?”

“Put yourself down, especially in comparison to me. Fucking hell, Owen, you’re twice the human being I am—everyone loves you. Even Aaron keeps asking me why I can’t be more like you.”

“That’s true,” Aaron admitted, shrugging. “I do.”

Lewis added cheerfully, “Most people think I’m a complete dick.”

Owen frowned at that, his protective instincts surging. “Yeah, well, anyone who thinks that doesn’t really see you.”

Lewis chuckled. “You’re literally making my point for me. You’re such a fucking Disney princess that you can’t see what a misanthrope I am.”

But Owen wasn’t buying that. He knew his brother. Sudden emotion made his throat swell and his eyes sting. He hid the reaction by hooking a big mitt round Lewis’s shoulder and roughly pulling him in close, messing his hair with an affectionate one-handed scrub before planting a noisy kiss on top of his head.

“Ow,” Lewis complained, extricating himself from the rough hug, and Owen grinned at him.

“Anyway,” Owen said. “It’s not like I’m ever going to run into Mason. We don’t exactly move in the same circles.”

“Actually,” Aaron said, “you might see him sooner than you think.” He turned to Lewis. “Are you going to ask him at some point?”

“Ask me what?” Owen said.

Lewis cleared his throat. “We kinda came round for a reason, actually. To ask you—” He broke off, clearing his throat.

“What?”

Lewis rubbed at the back of his neck. “There’s this awards show next week. Awards dinner,” he amended. “You know I hate shit like that—I was planning to avoid it—but the big bosses are saying I’ve got to go. They’re taking an extra table.”

“Leeches is up for an award,” Aaron interjected. “The fact they’re taking another table last minute probably means the organisers have given RPP the heads-up that we're going to win.”

“That’s great!” Owen enthused. Lewis did hate stuff like that, but Owen loved to see his brother getting well-deserved praise for his work.

“Yeah, well,” Lewis said, “don’t get your hopes up. Aaron’s a horrible optimist, but I do have four seats to fill, so”—he glanced at Owen uncertainly—“would you like to come?”

Owen’s heart squeezed at Lewis’s diffidence. “Come and see you get an award?” he said hoarsely. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

“Maybe get an award,” Lewis said, his cheeks a little pink. Then he grinned and added, “Mason will be there.”

Owen’s stomach sank. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Jay Warren’s bringing him,” Aaron said.

“Jay Warren?”

“The guy who plays Skye?” Aaron supplied, naming the main character of Leeches. “RPP want Jay there for the photos—he’s the face of the show, after all—but he’s also a really nice guy. You’ll like him.”

“So who’s getting the fourth seat?” Owen asked.

“Well, if there’s someone you’d like to bring, feel free,” Lewis said. “They’d technically be your plus-one.”

“I can easily get someone to come, but there’s no one I’m itching to bring,” Owen said. “So if there’s someone else you have in mind, I’m cool with that. It’ll just be one big table, right? We wouldn’t be going in couples. Maybe there’s someone else from Leeches you’d like to ask?”

Aaron got a mischievous look on his face. “We should ask Tag,” he said to Lewis, his eyes glinting with amusement.

“That would be kinda funny.”

“Tag your actor pal?” Owen asked. “The one with the tattoos, who I met when I came to yours for brunch the other week?”